A Socially Engaged Immigrant Outreach Project Working
with Creative Processes and Cultural Sustainability.
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Creative Thinking and the Use of Imagination as Survival Skills by Jane Ellen Gilmor, Paula Reaes Pinto and António Gorgel Pinto
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Hispanic Youth Workshop at The Iowa Ceramics Center and Glass Studio
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Newspapers and Media: The Cedar Rapids Gazette and Iowa Public Radio
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Central African Adult Immigrant Workshop at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church
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Shifting Ground: Exhibition/ Celebration A Multicultural Celebration of Immigrant Stories Told with Clay26
Funders, Artist Team, Project Director, Partners, Contributors, Workshop Volunteers and Participants
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Book Credits
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Shifting Ground: Sculptures by New Cedar Rapidians from Central Africa and Latin America
Creative Thinking
and the Use of
Imagination as
Survival Skills
Joshua and Jeremy seemed like they were born shaping forms in clay - complete con-centration and a sense of purpose. Both had been quiet at irst and didn’t seem very in-terested when their Shifting Ground work-shop began. No doubt their immigrant parents had talked them into participat-ing. But when it was time to write and talk about a speciic memory, their eyes lit up. he swimming hole as a mysterious vortex - and sharks! Yes, SHARKS! Gradually, every teen’s little obsessions began to be revealed. Just what we artists/teachers hope for! At a time when immigration policies dem-onstrate increasing intolerance and social injustice we, as artists concerned with so-cial issues, wanted to demonstrate that the visual arts, in particular, and culture, in a broader sense, are an important means for embracing diference. None of us can be sure - whether short-term or long-term, as refugees from war, natural disaster, or other causes - that we might not be in a similar situation, without our home or country, being shuled between temporary living spaces. Searching for a better future in a new place is something common to all liv-ing species, and we, as intelligent beliv-ings living in civilized societies, must provide new forms of welcoming and inclusion that incorporate the arts and encourage creative thinking and the use of
imagi-nation as survival strategies. hrough the
Shifting Ground project, sponsored by he
Iowa Ceramic Center and Glass Workshop (ICCGS), we hoped to empower and give visibility to undervalued immigrant groups in our own community, while also promot-ing social and cultural sustainability.
With this purpose, and the support of he City of Cedar Rapids, he Iowa Arts Council and in partnerships with St. Paul’s United Methodist African Nation-als Congregation and Immaculate Con-ception Church’s Hispanic Ministries, we developed a plan that included two weeks of small group workshops with recent im-migrants, local volunteers, and artists. We began by designing a game, an interaction between the artists and the participants, aimed at getting unique personal respons-es. With M.O.T. (Memory, Object, Tal-ent) each person wrote about a signiicant memory and an object related to it. hen we used wood letters pressed into clay slabs to form words and sentences from our memories. From this beginning we spent the next few days modeling abstract clay forms based on our selected objects. As work progressed we noticed some in-teresting themes emerge among our irst group, the Hispanic youth. Nature as re-membered from visits back to Central America with family. Stories of a irst big goal accomplished, like climbing to the very top of a banana tree or the sound, sight, and thrill of the irst time the volley-ball made it over the net, that irst goal in soccer, or caring for a little pet turtle that revealed a love for nurturing all things.
Torn between the culture of their immi-grant parents and that of a contemporary American high school, these teens seemed equally at home in Spanish or Eng-lish, though they chose to speak Spanish among themselves. heir parents’ goal had been escaping adversity to provide their children a better life. Now the expectation is that they reach their own goals as irst generation Americans.
While the Hispanic teens took awhile to warm to the project, the Central African group was laughing and talking before the workshop even started. Many of these re-cent adult immigrants knew each other. Nearly three thousand new immigrants from Central Africa had arrived in Cedar Rapids in recent years. Few of them spoke English. Some had literally arrived within days and weeks of our workshops. Some had led harrowing past lives, escaping war-ravaged villages to refugee camps where they may have lived for a decade or longer. hen they were most likely sent to a larger American city before inally being placed in Cedar Rapids where, hopefully, there were others from their cultural groups. Florence had waited two years to inally be reunited with her iancé Fidel. She arrived in Cedar Rapids at last and they married within a few weeks, supported by their church and fellow immigrants. hey came to the workshop together and Florence im-mediately understood. She never stopped working on her amazing organic pod form, perhaps a reference to the potential of her new life here. She reined it like a consum-mate craftsperson with a true love of the
process. One after another every participant in each workshop found a personal way to succeed. he objects they created were both beautiful and original, beyond our expecta-tions in both form and meaning.
he inal Shifting Ground Exhibit/Cel-ebration was proof our eforts had been worthwhile. A large crowd showed up to see the clay tablets, sculptures, and plaster casts installed with wall-projected videos documenting the workshops. his tribute to cultural diversity, held at he Cherry Center Space in Cedar Rapids, was a hap-pening where the participants and their families, artists and volunteers, as well as the larger community, shared a moment of social and cultural solidarity through art. his catalog documents both the process and the products of the Shifting Ground workshops, which became a way to share life stories and cultural knowledge while also creating closer ties among us. We sin-cerely hope Shifting Ground gives visibil-ity and voice, in a digniied way, to recent immigrants to Cedar Rapids while also promoting public art that beneits both the local community and those marginal-ized from it. Most importantly, we want to thank all our participants, without whom this project would not have been possible. Cedar Rapids, Lisbon, August 2019 Jane Ellen Gilmor
Paula Reaes Pinto António Gorgel Pinto
Funding for Shifting Ground was provided in part by a grant from he Iowa Arts Council, a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Afairs, and by he City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
New Iowans Explore
Memory, Home In ‘Shifting
Ground’ Art Collaboration
By KATE PAYNE, IOWA PUBLIC RADIO
A collaborative art project in Cedar Rapids is helping immigrants and refugees explore the meaning of home by working with clay. he
Shift-ing Ground project grapples with identity, memory and relocation as new
Iowans from Central Africa and Latin America make lives for themselves in the U.S.
Over the past two weeks, new Iowans from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Honduras and Mexico have translated some of them-selves into clay.
Shifting Ground is the vision of Lisbon, Portugal-based artists Paula
Re-aes Pinto and António Gorgel Pinto, and their collaborator Jane Gilmor, an
emeritus professor of art at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids. he Pintos describe their work as social art and have organized a slate of projects speciically designed to help disenfranchised and dis-placed communities hold on to their history and culture as they ind their way in their new homes.
“his kind of social art and social engagement art, I think it’s im-portant,” Gorgel Pinto said. “Art can help people and boost their inclu-sion in their new societies.”
Under the guidance of the Pintos, participants focused on memo-ries and objects from home, blending their heritage into their new way of life, and molding it in to clay.
Esther Mwamikazi is originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has been in the U.S. for three years. In that time she says she’s taken great comfort in the biblical story of Noah, who found safety and connection even while she weathered the storms that de-stroyed her home. his week Mwamikazi built her own ark.
“he good story of Noah in the Bible is very, very important. he boat and the many people inside,” she said as she described her piece. “It’s necessary…connected here in America. he many people…”
Mwamikazi says she and her children have found their own com-munity in Cedar Rapids, which they sought out for its diversity of im-migrants and refugees. In Iowa she can once again speak with friends and neighbors in one of her many languages.
“Connection is very good. I’m happy because, me speaking ive language in Africa. And today I’m happy because, speak English is the sixth language.”
he Pintos hope the project gives this group of new Iowans a stron-ger voice in their new society.
“To give them the opportunity to have a voice, choosing what way they want to work,” Reaes Pinto said. “Have a voice in the new envi-ronment, yes that’s it,” Gorgel Pinto adds.
Ellen Kleckner of the Iowa Ceramics Center and Glass Studio helped put on the project as well. She says clay is an ideal medium to explore something as malleable and changeful as memory; the artists can take experiences that may be scarred by trauma, and create a new story, literally setting it in stone through the iring process.
“We’re working with earth in itself, and we’re also talking about the literal diference between people’s earth where they’re standing, where they are from, being diferent places,” Kleckner said. “I think it’s a really beautiful use of material to be talking about memory and sort of building your own new memory and we actually turn it into this permanent object.”
Some artists made an intricate clay weaving of a net, to capture the feeling of a very irst soccer goal; others made an elaborate clay skirt, recalling sewing skills developed in refugee camps.
Adija Sinumvayaha is originally from Burundi. After ten years in Cedar Rapids, she simply wanted to recreate her home near Bujumbura.
“When she was in Africa, she was (sic) a house like this. hat’s why she likes the house,” an interpreter for Sinumvayaha explained. “hat can be the memory for her.”
Gilmor says the memory that the artists chose speaks to their di-verse experiences before coming to Cedar Rapids.
“Shifting Ground is about shifting localities, too. Most of them have been relocated several times. his might be the third place they’ve lived, and I think that really comes through in the memory they’ve picked,” Gilmor said.
An exhibition of the Shifting Ground project will take place this Saturday July 27th from 1pm – 4 pm at the Iowa Ceramics Center in Cedar Rapids, with another exhibition planned this September at Mount Mercy University Gallery.
Next year the Pintos will recreate the project with another group of immigrant artists in Evora, Portugal.
July 26, 2019
This story was reprinted with the permission of Iowa Public Radio. [https://www.iowapublicradio.org/post/new-iowans-explore-memory-home-shifting-ground-art-collaboration?fbclid=IwAR00qwjPfNX3_3EUyuR8wnc54E DBlz7k8-Ju29oyorr6M0lEnaylq2Qcft8#stream/0]
July 20, 2019
his article was reprinted with the permission of
Above: Jeremy Bezan Below: Elijah Troche
Left: Joshua Landin Right: Christian Garcia
Left: Estiphany Perez Rubio Right: Michelle Bender
Above: Aimerance Narmasoma Below: Florence Nshimirimana Taylor
Left: Adija Sinumvayaha Right: Finias Nyandwi
Left: Helen Mensah-Blevi Right: Francine Niyonyishu
Above: Pascazia Nzeyimana Below: Pamela Mukendi
Above: Anna Tuyisenge Below: Esther Mwamikazi
Above left: Fidel Taylor
Above right: Sonia Mounzeo-Mampassi Below: Erisa Niyibhitanga
Above: Francoise Swedi Below: Siriro Hakizimana
Paula Reaes Pinto and António Gorgel Pinto are two fearless artists whose work confronts social, economic and ecological issues by part-nering with locals in disenfranchised Portu-guese communities. For the past ifteen years, their work has addressed issues of displace-ment, habitat deterioration, and cultural de-generation due to globalization. heir vision is one of an art that crosses diverse disciplines and pushes the boundaries of what we call “Art” to create new models for a way of life that includes long-term sustainability of di-verse communities, worldviews, and practices.
https://www.behance.net/pintos
Funders
Funding for Shifting Ground is provided by he Iowa Arts Council, a Division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Afairs, he City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he Iowa Ceramics Cen-ter and Glass Studio, Mount Mercy Universi-ty’s Janalyn Hanson White Gallery, and Cedar Rapids Bank and Trust. he City of Évora and the University of Évora, Portugal, the CHAIA Research Centre and FCT Foundation in Por-tugal will provide funding for the PorPor-tugal portion of the project in 2020.
Thanks To
David Van Allen, Rodney Bradley, Jonathan Berger, Claudio Hidalgo, John Krizan, Lijun and David Chadima, and John Schwartzkof. he Iowa Ceramics Center and Glass Studio: Dana Danley-Fortier, Trudy Stenersen, Alea Walter, and all the Resident Artists. St. Paul’s United Methodist Church: Pastor Sher-rie Ilg, Pastor Daniel Niyonzima, Jade DeLang Hart, Michelle LaCompte, Fidel Taylor. Naida Garza, Immaculate Conception Church, Hispanic Ministry.
Mount Mercy University, Dave Dennis, Facili-ties director, and Deb O’Hare, Art Department Gallery Director JT Richard, Keesha Burke-Henderson, Director of Diversity and Interna-tional Student Success.
he City of Cedar Rapids Visual Arts Commis-sion Chair Bill Stamats, City of Cedar Rapids Development Commission, William Michaels. Trees Forever: Shannon Ramsay, Founding President and CEO, Jackie Wedeking, Market-ing Manager, Jordan Lattner, MarketMarket-ing Intern. Cedar Rapids Bank and Trust: Brittney Clarke, Vice-President of Retail Banking, Wendy Nielsen, Vice-President of Marketing and Pub-lic Relations. Legion Arts/ CSPS Hall: Director F. John Her-bert, Mel Andringa, Dan Miller, and Ben Bee-son.
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church African Nationals Choir: Fidel Taylor, Director; Bertin Nduwayezu, Ferdinand Bucumi, Fenias Nyan-dwi, Pascane Mpawenayo, Claudine Niyo-gushima, Giselle Niyindaje, Nimfasha Vareriya, Leissa Vyizigiro, Angel Ntezimana, Perpetua Nsabimana, Asiath.
Artist Team
Jane GilmorAntónio Gorgel Pinto Paula Reaes Pinto
Workshop
Participants
Jeremy Bezan Elijah Troche Chris Garcia Joshua LandinEstiphany Perez Rubio Michelle Bender
Aimerance Narmasoma Florence Nshimirimana Taylor Adija Sinumvayaha Finias Nyandwi Sonia Mounzeo-Mampassi Francine Niyonyishu Pascazia Nzeyimana Pamela Mukendi Anna Tuyisenge Esther Mwamikazi Fidel Taylor Erisa Niyibhitanga Francoise Swedi Siriro Hakizimana Helen Mensah-Blevi Julienne Baganya Salome Baganya Christian Garcia Katherine Rodriguez Angel Rodriguez
Workshop
Volunteers
Ellen Schneider Narciso Xnme Joyce St. Clair Volz Michelle LaCompte Jade DeLang Hart Bobbie McGee Kelly Loefelholz Mary Zart Terri LudwigJonathan Berger (design) David Van Allen (photography)
Rodney Bradley (photography and design)
Community
Partners
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Immac-ulate Conception Catholic Church Hispanic Ministry, Trees Forever, horland Co. /he Cherry Building, Mount Mercy University, and Legion Arts.
Project Director
Ellen Kleckner, Director,Title
Shifting Ground
A Socially Engaged Immigrant Outreach Project Working with Creative Processes and Cultural Sustainability.
Editors
Jane Ellen Gilmor Paula Reaes Pinto António Gorgel Pinto Photography David Van Allen Design
António Gorgel Pinto
